EVERETT — The Snohomish girls basketball team tried to slow the game — and a quick Bothell team — down in a 4A state regional contest against the Cougars.
However, it was the Cougars who slowed the Panthers.
Snohomish shot 29 percent from the floor, and scored just 14 points in the second half, as the Panthers fell to Bothell 45-39 in a regional game at Everett Community College Saturday morning.
The loss ended the Panthers’ season.
“We missed some layins, we missed some free throws. When we’re executing well you make layins and free throws,” said Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts. “We had a chance to get back in it and didn’t get that done.”
Snohomish, which led 25-20 at halftime, trailed by as many as eight points in the contest. The Panthers got it to within three, 40-37, after Madeline Smith drew a foul and made two free throws midway through the fourth quarter.
However, the Snohomish offense continued to struggle. All seven of the Panthers’ fourth-quarter points came from the free throw line, with Snohomish netting just two field goals in the second half.
“That’s a very good team,” said Bothell head coach Kent Schaefer. “It’s thrilling to compete against teams like that and we are very humbled and honored to win a game like that. The biggest thing for us is they play a different style. They want to pound it in and take time off the clock and we want to play fast and I thought that was the key to the game: what we would be able to do to keep the pace of the game up?”
Another key for the Cougars was sophomore Taya Corosdale. The 6-foot-1 sophomore scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Bothell (20-5 overall), which advanced to the 4A state tournament with the victory. Corosdale started the second half with a 5-0 run to cancel out the Panthers’ halftime advantage.
The sophomore also helped limit Smith to eight points. Smith, who also had 11 rebounds, drew constant double- and triple-teams from the Cougars.
“Seriously, she’s a good player,” Schaefer said. “She’s a very good player. She scores a lot and we haven’t played a post player that is that strong.”
Senior Darian Rielly led Snohomish (14-9) with 12 points. Madison Pollock came off the bench for the Panthers to add nine points and six rebounds. Pollock netted eight of her points in the first half to help Snohomish build an early lead.
“It’s been a team game for us all year,” Roberts said. “I thought Madison Pollock played a really good first half and it helped us get to that five-point lead.
“We had our chances to get it back to even and then you get a little desperate as the time gets lower and lower,” Roberts continued. “I think we got back to just executing our offense. We got away from that for awhile. … We got a little impatient too at times, I thought. We forced stuff to happen instead of allowing it to happen.”
Roberts said he was proud of his team for battling hard all season, particularly in the district tournament where the Panthers came away with the district championship trophy and No. 1 seed for regionals.
“It was a good season, the kids worked really hard,” Roberts said. “They played great at districts. Bothell’s good. … Corosdale played a great game.”
Snohomish returns all but two seniors — Rielly and guard Bernadette Beeman — next season, once again making the Panthers a contender.
However, Roberts said his team still has to put in work.
“Getting a year older doesn’t make you better,” Roberts said. “It takes work and I think that’s the biggest thing. The teams that really do get better for next season, they start in the next month or so.”
At Everett Communtiy College
Bothell 11 9 16 9 —45
Snohomish 10 15 7 7 —39
Bothell–Erin Burns 3, Taya Corosdale 22, Sydney Cowan 0, Melinda Akoto 0, Keyonna Jones 10, Brenda Akoto 0, Miranda Dixon 0, Hanna Tyndall 7, Chloe Lium 3. Snohomish–Katie Brandvold 3, Emily Preach 0, Darian Rielly 12, Shaylee Harwood 6, Madison Pollock 9, Madeline Smith 8, Bernadette Beeman 1, Ellie Flitsch 0. 3-point goals–Lium 1, Brandvold 1, Rielly 2. Records–Bothell 20-5 overall. Snohomish 14-9.
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